Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) Holdings Boosted by NEOS Investment Management LLC

NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Waters Co. (NYSE:WAT) by 37.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,203 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Waters were worth $817,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WAT. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Waters by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 6,732 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Waters by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 95,929 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $35,663,000 after buying an additional 9,223 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of Waters by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 26,918 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $9,986,000 after buying an additional 7,600 shares in the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Waters in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Waters by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 33,976 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $12,604,000 after acquiring an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WAT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Waters from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of Waters from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $360.00 to $415.00 in a report on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird raised Waters from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $396.00 to $407.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank raised Waters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $430.00 to $450.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Waters from $430.00 to $410.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.40.

Waters Trading Down 2.4 %

Waters stock opened at $361.61 on Monday. Waters Co. has a one year low of $279.24 and a one year high of $423.56. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $387.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $372.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.00.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.02 by $0.08. Waters had a return on equity of 46.31% and a net margin of 21.56%. On average, analysts forecast that Waters Co. will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Waters

Waters Corporation provides analytical workflow solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Waters and TA. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services high and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products, and post-warranty service plans.